The Heart's Choice
by k.l.martin
Summary: A four part short story about KageHina, a pairing of Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shoyo. Warning: Death fic with a lime touch and a dark plot.


It was hot in the gym from the outside heat. Summer was approaching fast. Most of the team was changing back into their school uniforms. Kageyama sat on the sidelines drinking his water. He set the bottle down, eyes trailing over to Hinata as the ginger kept hitting the ball over the net. He wanted to get it just right before he went home.

Wiping away a trail of sweat that managed to run down his cheek, Kageyama shrugged and picked up his volleyball jacket. Pulling it on over his white t-shirt, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. The volleyball was coming straight toward him. He ducked, it barely missing his head. Turning to Hinata, he balled his fists and yelled at him, a tick mark on the back of his head.

"Dammit, idiot!" he snapped.

The ginger flinched and backed away, a sweat drop rolling down the side of his head. A nervous smile crossed his lips.

"I'm sorry!"

Even with that apology, Kageyama still wanted to grind that shorty into a pulp.

"Get back here, idiot! You should know not to aim the damn ball at my head!"

Idiot was something he always called Hinata. Energetic and happy or sometimes not, the boy was always getting on his last nerve, but there was something to the feeling, like it was tugging at his heart strings.

A faint dusting of pink ran across his cheeks at the thought of Hinata being in his hands. He stopped dead in his tracks, his body aching in places it shouldn't. He watched the boy run to the back of the gym, his face completely red.

_Dammit! Learn to stop freezing up around him! You can't feel that way!_ he thought to himself.

But that wasn't the case. For the past two weeks, Kageyama had been flushed any time he was around Hinata. The boy's rust colored eyes warmed his heart. The way his orange hair would never lie flat, even if soaked with water. Hanging around him for three hours each day was like basking the sun for a week. He liked the feeling; it took away the bad memories. Hinata was the sun; the only thing keeping him happy.

"Hey, Kageyama? You alright?"

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and looked at Sugawara.

"Yeah." He waved it off.

"You're completely flushed."

He stood up straight, his body tensing at the statement.

"N-no. Nothing is wrong."

There was nothing he could say that would prove Sugawara wrong. He was nervous and stuttering wasn't going to help him.

"Kageyama, you can talk about it."

He bit his lip and retrieved his bag. The problem was that he couldn't talk about it. Not with Hinata in the gym.

"There's nothing to talk about." He sighed and walked out, stopping a few times to glance at Hinata and his perfect face.

He walked home alone. If he stayed behind and talked to the rest of the group, then he would he subjugated to being around Hinata. He couldn't handle that. There had to be someway he could figure out a plan to be near him.

The walk home wasn't that bad. He was alone. He could finally relax. No more looking over his shoulder to make sure Hinata wasn't trailing after him like a puppy-dog.

Finally, after a twenty minute walk, he reached home. He didn't even bother to talk to anyone and just went up to his room and crashed in bed.

The next morning, he found himself standing in front of the mirror. All night he could only dream about that ginger. His heart pounded in his chest. Throwing his towel into the bathtub, he stormed out of the bathroom and grabbed his school bag, heading to school with a dark scowl on his face.

_Why must I always find my heart pounding for him?_ he thought. _I don't like him, do I?_

The school bell rang, leaving him to himself for the first half of the day. Lunch came around quickly. If he didn't think of something fast, Hinata would find him and he'd have to hang around him until lunch ended. He couldn't handle that. In fact, he still hadn't come up with a way to hang around him without being flustered.

"Kageyama!" There it was. The dreaded voice he wished he didn't have to hear for a few more hours. "Where were you this morning?"

"I was running late, so I just came here."

He let his eyebrows knit together in annoyance. When was he going to leave?

"Okay. Well, Daichi-sempai was wondering where you were. It's not like I care, or anything," Hinata said looking down, a rosy hue slipping across his cheeks.

Kageyama looked at him with dark squinted eyes. "What did you just say?"

Hinata backed away slowly. His hands shook. A slight whimpering escaped his small mouth.

_Dammit! Why does he have to be so cute?_ Kageyama thought to himself.

Cute? Was that the right word? Yeah. It had to be. From Hinata's round eyes to his soft lips and the way he purses his lips.

"What? You wanna fight?"

There he was, going at it again. He put his fists up in front of his face again, ready to fight.

"Why would I wanna fight a wimp like you?" Kageyama let out a loud snort.

_Why won't he leave me alone?_

Hinata squatted in front of the yogurt selection of the vending machine.

"Which one do you want?"

"Huh?"

Kageyama turned to look at Hinata. The ginger had a small wallet in his hands and was pulling out a few coins.

"Which one do you want?"

Slowly, a rosy scarlet color spread over Kageyama's cheeks, making his face take on an almost childlike appearance. He quickly turned his head away, embarrassed by his reaction.

"You can pick whichever one."

Silence ticked by as raven haired male and ginger stared at each other. The ginger finally pressed a button after inserting some coins.

"I...um...hope you like it." He handed the yogurt to him.

Now, it was Hinata's turn to blush. Kageyama kept his mouth shut. It was the only thing keeping him from spilling out about he felt.

Rubbing the back of his head, the setter moved toward the building once more. Should he ask him? What would happen if the ginger laughed at him? Tsukishima would for sure find out and make his life a living hell for the next three years. No way he was going through that. He would just have to keep it to himself.

The lunch bell rang, sending the two of them back to class. The last half of the school day went by quickly. Kageyama raced to the gym to avoid running into Hinata. It was bad enough Hinata was going to be there this afternoon, anyway.

The gym was quiet. Only Daichi and Sugawara stood there, pulling out the volleyball carts. Thankfully, Hinata wasn't there yet.

He moved quietly to a corner of the gym and began to change into his gym attire. Hinata entered behind him and shouted excitedly. Sugawara responded to him and called Kageyama over.

"You two have something going on and I want to know what it is."

"It's nothing!" Kageyama snorted.

"Don't think like that. C'mon. Try it, Kageyama." Sugawara's warm face calmly staring at him, a pleasant smile on his face.

"I don't want to."

Hinata began to laugh. "You sound like a kid whining!" Tears began to form in his eyes.

"Why you little..." he growled, looking straight at Hinata.

The ginger flinched. He backed away slowly.

"Get back here!"

Another growl escaped his lips. The ginger could easily piss him off, but there was something about the ginger's soft gaze that kept him from hurting him. Well, hurting him too much. He could land a blow to the end; one or two wouldn't hurt him.

"Daichi!" Sugawara's call advised him to come over.

Both the males turned to watch Kageyama and Hinata goes after him. Daichi stepped forward.

"I wouldn't do that, boys."

Hinata and Kageyama froze. Their heads turned toward Daichi.

"Now, what's going on between you two?"

_Crap! He has his scary face going again._

The two of them gulped.

"Ugh...well, you see..." Hinata began.

"We...um..." Kageyama returned.

Daichi crossed his arms over his broad chest. "Talk."

"Eep!" Hinata squeaked. "Alright, alright. I'm sick of Kageyama acting like a jerk. You can't even talk to him without him getting pissed off about something. All I want to do is..."

Hinata froze. Kageyama glanced at him with a suspicious glare. Nothing about what was being said felt natural.

"Go on. I want to know more." Now, Kageyama was crossing his arms.

"Err...you don't have to be all defensive about it."

The setter cocked his head. "How am I being defensive?"

"You're covering up your body. How else am I going to feel?"

Kageyama let out a sigh. "Fine. But just talk. This is getting interesting."

"Okay. If you want it...I wanted to ask Kageyama if he wanted to go out with me...?"

A sharp intake of breath left Kageyama aware of his heartbeat, instinctively telling him to place his hand on his chest, leaving him standing there, unconscious of his twitching of fingers.

_What do I say? I don't want to be the one who just leaves him there._ "Okay, um..." He paused, looking at Hinata with narrowed eyes. "I think I can try."

Hinata's face lit up. He threw his arms around Kageyama's neck.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I didn't think you were going to say it!"

Kageyama glanced around nervously, his cheeks glowing a bright pink.

"Yeah, well, don't flaunt it too much!"

Both the captain and Sugawara came over and slapped them on the back.

"Good job! Maybe you two will start getting along better."

Hinata let out a shy laugh and nodded while Kageyama just nodded. He didn't need to be told twice about not getting along with the ginger. They would just have to wait and see how if goes from now.


End file.
